GDB 34: Unlikely Predators

Let’s start this GDB off by saying we have a special level of hatred for the Nashville Predators. They have no business owning the Oil the way they do. They are brutal. They have terrible ownership, a sparse fan base, a funny logo, a coach with no neck whatsoever and are completely unusable as a team in 2k9.

Yet they stroll in to E-Town with nine consecutive wins against the Oil. Pardon? Four straight at Rexall? Zuh? Former Oiler Jason Arnott team Captain and still a legitimate member of the league’s upper class?

Shoot.

Arnott falls into that category of “ones that got away.” These are former Oilers that – for one reason or another – left town and yet inexplicably their careers continued after they left. We like our ex-Oilers ruined and depressed thank you very much. David Oliver? Check. Still happy you left after a single good year? Dan McGillis? Right. Smooth move on that one friend. But when an Oiler leaves and continues producing, well that just grinds our gears. “The ones that got away” aren’t the Curtis Josephs or the Doug Weights of the world. Those players left for the dollars and cents of the matter and there was little that could be done.

The ones that got away include players who left for reasons other than the dough. We would include Jason Arnott in this category along with a few players of the same era – players like Miro Satan, Kirk Maltby or hell even Boyd Devereaux. Years after these chaps left town we still look down the roster and see a spot for them.

Once upon a time these players were dealt and the good citizens of the OilersNation exclaimed “huzzah! What wonderous news! How happy we will be now that these poorly performing players aren’t members of our local hockey squadron.” We pitied the teams who had the misfortune of picking up these castaways. We laughed heartily as the other GM issued positive statements about the contribution these players will make to their new teams.

And now, years later, we sit back years later in muted horror and hope that fallen stars like one time whipping boy Jason Arnott doesn’t lead his Predators to a tenth straight win over his former teammates.

Damn you Jason Arnott for your continued career. Damn you Nashville Predators for your continued dominance of the Oilers. Damn you Chris Cornell for leaving Soundgarden and Audioslave. Seriously, why would he leave both of those bands?

I guess thats being a God of Rock for you.